Identification of transcriptional enhancer factor-4 as a transcriptional modulator of CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase alpha.

CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (CCT) is the rate-limiting and regulated enzyme of mammalian phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis. There are three isoforms, CCTalpha, CCTbeta1, and CCTbeta2. The mouse CCTalpha gene promoter is regulated by an enhancer element (Eb) located between -103 and -82 base pairs (5'-GTTTTCAGGAATGCGGAGGTGG-3') upstream from the transcriptional start site (Bakovic, M., Waite, K., Tang, W., Tabas, I., and Vance, D. E. (1999) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1436, 147-165). To identify the Eb-binding protein(s), we screened a mouse embryo cDNA library by the yeast one-hybrid system and obtained 19 positive clones. Ten cDNA clones were identified as transcriptional enhancer factor-4 (TEF-4). The TEF-binding consensus sequence, 5'-(A/T)(A/G)(A/G)(A/T)ATG(C/T)(G/A)-3', was identified within the Eb binding region. Gel-shift analysis using radiolabeled Eb fragment as a probe showed that cell extracts from yeast expressing hemagglutinin-tagged TEF-4 caused a marked band retardation that could be prevented with an anti-hemagglutinin antibody. When COS-7 cells were transfected with TEF-4, CCTalpha promoter-luciferase reporter activity and CCTalpha mRNA levels increased. A TEF-4 deletion mutant containing a DNA-binding domain, mTEA(+), stimulated the CCTalpha promoter activity, whereas protein lacking the DNA binding domain, mTEA(-), did not. Unexpectedly, when the ATG core of the TEF-4 binding consensus within the Eb region was mutated, promoter activity was enhanced rather than decreased. Thus, TEF-4 might act as a dual transcriptional modulator as follows: as a suppressor via its direct binding to the Eb element and as an activator via its interactions with the basal transcriptional machinery. These results provide the first evidence that TEF-4 is an important regulator of CCTalpha gene expression.